What is a Tsunami?

The word tsunami comes from

two Japanese words tsu
harbour and nami wave.
They are a series of enormous
water waves caused by the
displacement of a large volume
of water , usually from oceans or
lakes.
Tsunami waves have a much
longer wavelength than normal
sea waves.
They may arrive at shores in
periods ranging from hours to
minutes.
A tsunami wave has 3 stages ;
Generation
Propagation
Inundation

A tsunami wave has 3 stages ;
Generation
Propagation
Inundation
A tsunami wave has 3 stages ;
Generation
Propagation
Inundation
First the harbour is peaceful
Then all the water is sucked in
Then a wall of water hits the shore
Undersea earthquakes
Undersea landslides
Volcanic activities
Asteroid Impacts
Undersea earthquakes are
one of the chief reasons for
the occurrence of
tsunamis.
Tsunamis are formed when
the sea floor abruptly
deforms , displacing the
water present over it.
The 2011 earthquake of the
Japanese Pacific coast
caused a lot of damage to
property , apart from
taking 16,000 lives.

Undersea Landslides
Tsunamis generated due to
landslides are known as mega
tsunamis , as their height is
much more than those caused
by earthquakes.
Landslides cause a massive
amount of displacement ,
disturbing the water present in
bodies.
An example of this is the Papua
New Guinean 1998 tsunami.

Volcanic Eruptions
Volcanic eruptions are a
less common cause for
tsunami generation.
Land-based volcanoes
may collapse and force a
large amount of debris
into water bodies ,
causing widespread
displacement of water.
For example , the eruption of the Krakatoa volcano between
Java and Sumatra (Indonesia) caused a tsunami in which
36,000 perished.

An asteroid impact into
the ocean could cause
tsunami. Fortunately, this
should be rare and there
are no documented
accounts of an asteroid
having generated
tsunami.

Death :

The tsunami that struck South Asia and East African on December 24 2004 killed a
staggering 31,187 people in Sri Lanka. There were 4,280 missing people and a further
23,189 were injured.
- There is very little warning before
Tsunamis hit. This means that people
living in towns and villages on the
coast do not have time to escape .
Unfortunately one of the biggest and
worst effects of a Tsunami is the cost
to human life. Hundreds and
thousands of people are killed by
Tsunamis.

Diseases
- Disease can also spread from the dead bodies that begin to rot on the
ground once the water has subsided. This was the case in Indonesia in
2004. In fact, one BBC security guard actually burned the corpse of a
baby because it had become infested with maggots and the risk of
disease spreading caused a risk to the television crew.
- Tsunamis flood the areas closest
to the coast. This can cause
disease to spread in the stagnant
water . Illnesses such as malaria
form when water is stagnant and
contaminated.

Psychological effects
- Tsunami victims suffer psychology problems in
the days and weeks after the destruction. This
could even continue for years - often their entire
life time.
- A study by the World Health Organization on
survivors of the tsunami in Sri Lanka on
December 24 2004 found that three to four
weeks after the tsunami between 14 and 39 per
cent of the children had post traumatic stress
disorder (PTSD).


1. Evacuate on foot if at all possible because of potential traffic
jams.
2. Stay away from potentially hazardous areas until you
receive an ALL CLEAR from local officials. Dangerous waves can
persist for several hours, and local officials must inspect all
flooded or earthquake-damaged structures before anyone can
go back into them.
3. If you need help evacuating, tie something WHITE (sheet or
towel) to the front door knob. Make it large enough to be
visible from the street. If the emergency is a distant tsunami,
then help may arrive. In the event of a local earthquake and
tsunami, it is unlikely that anyone will help you, so make a
plan and be prepared!


4. After evacuation, check with the local area commander if
you can help with special skills or need assistance with
locating lost family.

Steps:
Learn about the potential for danger in advance. It is
important to consider in advance whether or not you
live somewhere that could potentially face a tsunami.
It is likely that you are at some risk if:
Your home, school, or workplace is in a coastal region,
near the sea.
The elevation of your home, school or workplace is at
sea level or fairly low and on flat or only slightly
undulating land. If you don't know the elevation level
of your home, school or workplace, find out. Some
local authorities use elevation as a warning indicator.


There are warning signs indicating that your area is
prone to tsunamis.
Your local authorities have issued information about
the potential for tsunamis.
Natural sea barriers such as levees of dunes have
been removed for development.
Tsunamis have struck your coastal region in the past.
Do some library research or ask at the local
government office. FEMA has a website enabling
online flood risk searches.
Your home, school, or workplace etc. buildings are not
tsunami resistant.

Prepare in advance. If your research
demonstrates that you are at risk, prepare
both an evacuation plan and a safety pack.
Assemble a safety pack. Food, water, and a first aid kit are among
the basics required. Keep the safety pack somewhere obvious,
well-known to everyone in the building and easy to grab in an
emergency. It can also help to leave a raincoat or other coat for
each person near the safety pack.
Assemble a personal survival pack for each person in the family,
and a family survival pack with common items for everyone.
Include a supply of necessary medications for each member of
the family. Don't forget survival items for your pets.
Develop a personal evacuation plan. An evacuation plan must be
prepared in advance to be of use. In developing one, consider
your family, your workplace, your school and your wider
community.


If necessary, begin to develop a community-wide evacuation plan if
nothing is being done in your community. Take the initiative to start
developing the plan, and involve local authorities and other
residents. Lack of evacuation plans and local warning systems put
you, your family and your entire community at increased risk for
injury or death during and after a tsunami. These are the things
that should be part of a successful evacuation plan:
Discuss with family and colleagues the various options for evacuation.
Conduct practice drills to ensure that all members of the community are clear
about what they need to do and where they need to go during a safety
evacuation.
Include a plan that can ensure a head count of every single member of the
community; ensure that assistance for disabled or ill persons can be provided
Ensure that warning and evacuation signals are understood by the
community in advance - distribute pamphlets or give lectures to ensure that
everybody is aware. Read Understand Tsunami Notification Terms.
Remember to provide multiple safety routes owing to the possibility of an
earthquake destroying roads and other infrastructure, preventing exit using
some routes.


Take action. If a tsunami is likely to make landfall on
your coastal region, react immediately. Put into
place the Evacuation Plan. Actions should include:
Move inland, and to high ground. Immediate
movement away from the coast, lagoons or other
bodies of water next to the coast is essential. This
means going up to higher ground and even into
hills or mountains. Always head away from the
coast and keep moving inland.
Climb high. If you cannot head inland because you
are trapped, head up. Although not ideal, if this is
your only option, choose a high, sturdy and solid
building and climb up it. Go as high as you
possibly can, even onto the roof.

React quickly if you are caught up
in the water. If you did not
manage to evacuate but find
yourself caught up in the tsunami
for one reason or another, there
are things that you can do to try
and survive:
Grab onto something that floats. Use a floating object as a raft
to keep yourself above the water. Items that float such as tree
trunks, doors, fishing equipment etc. may be in the water with
you.
FOR WATCHING